One aspect relates to rowing simulators or rowing machines. One embodiment has been developed primarily for use with dynamically balanced rowing simulators and will be described hereinafter with reference to this application. However, it will be appreciated that the invention is not limited to this particular field of use and is applicable to many different types of rowing simulators as would be understood by a person skilled in the art.
Static rowing simulators or machines have been long known for use in both general strength and fitness training, or for use specifically for oarsmen to practice their rowing. In these known static simulators, a seat is slideably mounted to a rail so as to simulate the sliding motion of a seat in a rowing boat. A typical example of a static rowing machine simulator can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,396,188, and reference is made to FIG. 1 which reproduces a drawing from this US prior art patent.
As shown in FIG. 1, the static rowing simulator includes an energy dissipation device in the form of a flywheel that is driven by a chain connected to a handle in front of a rower. When the rower is seated on the sliding seat, the feet are placed on footrests which are attached to the frame upon which the seat slides. A rowing or pulling motion on the handle causes the chain to move and thereby rotate the flywheel.
Unfortunately, static rowing simulators such as the example shown in FIG. 1 do not properly simulate the forces an oarsman is exposed to during normal rowing action. As such, the known static rowing simulators are acknowledged by health professionals as being potentially detrimental to the oarsman by increasing the likelihood of injury to the oarsman's knee, back and shoulders.
In order to more accurately simulate the forces that would be experienced by an oarsman in a boat, the subject of U.S. Pat. No. 5,382,210 (Rekers) was developed. A right hand side view of the Rekers simulator is shown in FIG. 2. The disclosure of the specification of the Rekers US patent is hereby incorporated herein in its entirety.
In a dynamically balanced rowing machine simulator such as Rekers, the energy dissipation device (flywheel) is also slideably mounted to the frame independent of the sliding movement of the seat. That is, during use by an oarsman, the slideably mounted seat and energy dissipation device move independently of each other apart and together as a function of the stroke of the oarsman. In the Rekers prior art, the dynamically balanced rowing machine simulator stabilizes the energy dissipation device (flywheel) and the oarsman independent of internal friction and/or hysteresis in any elastic elements in the simulators.
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that when an oarsman sits on the seat of the simulator of the Rekers patent, they place their feet on the foot rests which are slideably mounted with the energy dissipation device flywheel so that pulling on the rowing machine simulator handle and release thereof causes the energy dissipation device and seat to move apart and together during the initial stages of a stroke and the final stages of a stroke respectively. It is known that the disclosure of rowing machine simulators such as those of the Rekers patent provides significant improvements in the simulation of the experience an oarsman would receive when rowing a boat on the water as not only is the movement of the sliding seat simulated, but also the movement of the boat by means of the movement of the energy dissipation device (flywheel). Use of simulators such as those of Rekers reduces the risk of injury that is presented by the use of static simulators.
Whilst the rowing machine simulators of the type disclosed in the Rekers patent are significant improvements over what is known, it would be preferable to have a rowing machine simulator which yet more realistically simulates the experiences of an oarsman rowing a boat on the water. As would be understood by a person skilled in the art, other conventionally known dynamically balanced rowing machine simulators typically only address one or two specific conditions experienced during an oarsman rowing. Another disadvantage of the prior art is a propensity to become unstable during use when an oarsman is pulling on the handle.
The genesis of one embodiment is a desire to provide an improved dynamically balanced rowing machine simulator, or to provide a useful alternative.